Older than Twitter. Not quite as profitable.
A pro wrestling counterfactual: What if the World Wrestling Federation was organized around workrate, around the idea that the pivotal word in the phrase "sports entertainment" is the first? Can one Ricky Steamboat pinfall put right what once went wrong?
Go to the earliest archived post; scroll to "it begins" and you're ready to roll.

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Triple H, October 2011:

“When I grew up, I hated Hogan. I thought he was terrible and didn’t like to watch him. I was like Punk in a way. I liked the Steamboats and Flairs and the ones that could go. Would I be right in saying that Hogan was the wrong guy to go with, and they should’ve changed directions and gone with Steamboat because he was the better wrestler? Ludicrous.” - Triple H. October, 2011.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Top 10 Wrestlers in Counterfactual History(Summer Slam build will be the next posts - who will challenge Rey for the Undisputed Championship? What's the next chapter in Matt/Edge? What will the dastardly 51% Solution do next? All coming on the Road to Summer Slam '06!

Don't know what this post involves? Go to Part I to see the countdown of 64-11.Don't know why we're here at all? Go to "it begins" and work your way forward.Mistakenly stumbled across this site and are scared? That's okay; I'll be gentle.Here from Stamford looking for more ideas for wwe.com? Feel free. We're all fans here. )

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Top 64 Wrestlers Of All Time(This concludes a multi-part look at the history of the Counterfactual, a Counterfactual almanac if you will. Not for nothing, but a new edition to wwe.com is called “What if…” and the first installment is “What if Hogan didn’t slam Andre…” I’m just sayin’. I’d anticipate the next posts, which will be the build for Summer Slam ’06 to be in June, and then the big event itself will be in August. This list is an objective look at how, based on the title histories given here, for all four companies, pre-Counterfactual through WM XXII, one would rank the greatest wrestlers in North American history. I’m just doing this numerically, assigning a weight to all of the belts which were attained herein, giving additional points for longevity of title reigns. It’s basically a bullshit exercise, of course, just an excuse to listmake, silliness piled onto silliness, but here it is. This is not, please note, my evaluation of the real world careers or abilities of the workers – I’m assuming that wrestling is a sport and evaluating their careers based on titles. Why 64? Given the point breakdown, neither 50 or 100 made good sense. Actually, the number that makes the most sense turned out to be a top 56. But 56 doesn’t lend itself to brackets. And maybe someone wants to run a tournament. So, I picked 64. Feel free to S curve it. Trade with your friends! In a year, I’ll update, as active wrestlers obviously will move up the list based on performance every year.)

Saturday, May 05, 2007

MATT. EDGE. HELL. CELL. 24/7/365The main event scheduled for WM XXIII in Detroit, is of course, Matt and Edge in only the third ever Cell match. It's the first main event we've scheduled a year in advance for the buildup. It'll be the first time the WWF Championship isn't on the line (maybe...) in the main event at Mania.

It's the blowoff match to what (by that point) will be a year and a half in the Lita program, and considering the Matt/Edge history woven throughout their entire careers - it's the blowoff match nearly a decade in the making.

To that end - we start the documentary series. Matt. Edge. Hell. Cell. 24/7/365.

The direct model for this of course is the great Mayweather/De La Hoya build that HBO did; if you missed this, you want to catch it even after the fight. They heeled Floyd up real good (the shot of him with the stacks of money in his kitches is one I want to directly steal for Edge) and judging by public expert reaction, I think it's built up not just interest in buying the fight, but a genuine belief in the underdog De La Hoya (totally without merit, in my view - if I'm wrong, well, people can shoot at me, but I think the only way Floyd loses the fight is if the judges steal it from him).

The indirect model is what, I think, is still my favorite build for any wrestling match, the training scenes of Bret and Shawn before XII.

We'll start with small, but larger than normal, say, five minute, pieces within the bodies of existing WWF shows. Inside Matt's life. As it begins, he won't open up at all - since he's the enigmatic Pillman-like character. I really don't want him talking on camera until we zero in on the show - people can talk about him, we can get shots of him, but I want him largely by himself, running the steps hours before TV, shadowboxing, sitting alone in the locker room.

People can talk about him, family, friends, other workers - "Matt's changed" is the real theme of the Matt side of this. And current Matt will be juxtaposed with Ring Boys Matt, Hardys Matt.

We'll climax the Hardys stuff in time for the return of...well...someone's returning this summer, as you are aware.

When we get close, we'll break Matt open a little bit so we can recognize the degree to which he needs to win the match.

Edge, early on, will be all cocky heel. Edge goes out partying, Edge at the club, Edge with Lita - Edge and Lita with other girls. Edge with strippers. Edge with porn stars. Edge's frenzy to get at Matt has to slow way down now and build again before the big show. Right now, I basically just want to show Edge as young, single athlete guy. He makes it rain at the strip clubs, he's just a wealthy, good looking asshole living it up.

When we get close, he'll want it just as badly as Matt. But right now, he's Pretty Boy Edge.

Eventually, they'll get longer blocks of time for the documentary pieces, and since they'll both be in other feuds over the course of the year - we can use this time to always keep as a touchstone that the company is driving to one match at XXIII.